A couple weeks ago I spent some time chatting with director Christopher Nolan for an upcoming feature in Mean Magazine all about his new flick, The Prestige.

In addition to talking about the dueling magicians thriller at length Nolan indulged some of my curiosity about his next little project you might have heard of…the next Batman film!

You’re going to have to wait until the issue hits the streets October 23rd for the whole lengthy dialogue but in the meanwhile but here’s a taste…

Horowitz: Batman Begins dealt with a range of themes from revenge to how we confront fear. What themes will you be exploring in The Dark Knight?
Nolan: I suppose in loose terms I can say it’s about things having to get worse before they get better.

Horowitz: It’s that note the first film ends on of escalation?
Nolan: Very much.

Horowitz: Is there anything to be inferred from the name you’ve chosen for this film, The Dark Knight?
Nolan: Ultimately yes. [Laughs] But I’ll leave that for people to infer.

Horowitz: This is the cryptic portion of our chat.
Nolan: Yeah. [Laughs] The title has been chose very specifically. It’s quite important to the film.

Horowitz: I take it [the Joker] will be less Cesar Romero and Jack Nicholson than the Joker we saw portrayed in a comic like The Killing Joke?
Nolan: Yes. I would certainly point to The Killing Joke but I also would point very much to the first two appearances of the Joker in the comic. If you look at where the Joker comes from there’s a very clear direction that fits what we’re doing very well.

Want to know more?!? Pick up the magazine October 23rd! And maybe if you’re nice I’ll mention a couple more tidbits here soon…such as Nolan’s thoughts on taking on The Prisoner and another huge franchise character as yet unmentioned…